“But don’t you see? If someone at the Court is involved, this would be a perfect opportunity to find out some information because practically everybody from the Court will be there.”
Fiske was about to protest again but then stopped. He rubbed his chin. “What time does it start?”
“Seven-thirty. By the way, have you heard from your JAG friend?”
“Yeah. There are actually two files that are applicable. Harms’s service record, which contains not only his record of service, but also evaluations, personal info, enlistment contract, pay and medical histories. The second file, the record of his court-martial proceedings, would be with him at Fort Jackson. His lawyer’s work product would be maintained at the JAG office that handled Harms’s defense. That is, if they’ve kept it all these years. Jansen’s checking. He’ll send what he can.”
As Sara started gathering her things to leave, Fiske remained sitting. “So what can you tell me about the Knights? Their pasts and all that?”
“Why?”
“Well, we’re going to a party that they’re hosting. She’s a big part of the Court and he’s a VIP in his own right. That qualifies them to be part of our investigation, don’t you think?”
“You probably know more about Jordan Knight’s past than I do. He’s from your hometown.”
Fiske shrugged. “True. Jordan Knight is big business in Richmond. At least he was until he entered politics. He made a lot of money.”
“And a lot of enemies?”
“No, I don’t think so. He’s given a lot back to Virginia. Besides, he’s a low-key, nice guy.”
“Then he’s an odd match for Elizabeth Knight.”
“I could see how she’d bruise a few egos on the way up.”
“More than a few. It came with the territory. Tough federal prosecutor turned tougher trial judge. Everybody knew she was being groomed for a seat on the Court. She’s the swing vote on most of the major cases, which drives Ramsey crazy. I’m sure that’s why he treats her the way he does. Kid gloves most of the time, but every once in a while he can’t resist jabbing her.”
Fiske thought back to the confrontation between the two justices at the conference. So that’s what it was.
“How well do you know the other justices? You seem to know them well enough to believe they couldn’t commit murder.”
“Like in any other large organization, I know them mostly superficially.”
“What’s Ramsey’s background?”
“He’s the chief justice of the country’s highest court and you don’t know?”
“Humor me.”
“He was an associate justice before being elevated to the top spot about ten years ago.”
“Anything unusual in his background?”
“He was in the military. Army or Marines, maybe.” She caught Fiske’s look. “Don’t even think it, John. Ramsey is not going around killing people. Other than that, just what’s in his official bio.”
Fiske looked puzzled. “I would have thought you’d know everything about the other justices by talking to the clerks.”
“The clerks for one justice tend to stick together to a certain degree, although every Thursday afternoon there’s a happy hour when we all get together. And periodically the clerks of one justice take another justice out to lunch just as a get-to-know-you sort of thing. Otherwise, each chamber is pretty self-contained” — she paused — “except for the famed clerk opinion network.”
“Mike mentioned something like that to me after he first came to the Court.”
Sara smiled. “I’m sure he did. The clerks are the mouthpieces for their justices. We send up trial balloons all the time, feeling each other out on a justice’s position. For example, Michael used to ask me what Knight needed in a majority opinion to join Murphy.”
“But if Murphy is already writing the majority opinion, why does he need to court other votes?”
“You really are in the dark about how we work.”
“Just a simple country lawyer.”
“Okay, Mr. Simple Country Lawyer, the fact is if I had ten bucks for every time a majority opinion turned into a dissent because enough support wasn’t garnered for it, I’d be wealthy. The trick is you have to craft an opinion that’ll get five votes. And of course the opposition doesn’t just sit idly by. One or more dissenting opinions might be circulated simultaneously. The use of dissenting opinions, or even the threat of them, is a fine art.”